You go onto the Next website to buy a shirt or a dress, and before you know it, you end up with a high-interest credit account that you didn’t ask for. Have you been signed up for an unwanted Next credit account?
If your card is declined when you’re shopping online, what would you guess will happen? It’s fair to expect you’ll be invited to choose another card or cancel the order, because that’s how the vast majority of shopping websites operate. But the Next website is different – and not in a good way.
Pay by card when buying on Next.co.uk, and if the card’s declined, Next will automatically set up a credit account for you and charge the order to that account.
Next account interest rate
At that point, you need to cancel the order or settle your account within a month of receiving your statement, you’ll also have to pay interest at 25.99% APR – more than most credit cards charge.
We think it’s irresponsible to set up a new credit account for a potentially vulnerable customer, as a failed card payment could mean that the customer doesn’t have enough funds in their bank account or that they’ve reached their credit card limit. And if you have a weak credit rating, opening such an account is likely going to damage it further.
Poor credit rating on the cards?
We want Next to change its website so that if your card is declined, you’re given the explicit option to choose another card or cancel the order, rather than having a credit account set up.
Next told us that the problem occurred in only 0.1% of internet orders it received, but said it is already working on a fix and it should be corrected shortly. We’ll be checking back to make sure that Next follows through on this promise.
It’s good that Next has recognised the problem, but it begs the question: why was this unfair and counter-intuitive system in place to begin with?
Have you encountered issues when paying for goods on the Next website? Have you been signed up for an unwanted Next credit account? Were you able to pay it off before being hit by the interest?
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